Prized birds take vanishing flight in UP sky

Many bird species once sighted commonly across Uttar Pradesh are now vanishing.

| TNN | Updated: Mar 20, 2013, 05:16 IST

LUCKNOW: Many bird species once sighted commonly across Uttar Pradesh are now vanishing. The reasons could be many and diverse, but technology appears to be the biggest factor behind this threat looming over the feathered friends of man. First mynahs faced the extinction threat, then sparrows and vultures followed. And now, the existence of graceful peacock is also threatened due to various factors.

Some years ago concern was raised at the gradual disappearance of the mynah from the cities and villagers of UP. It was found that the loss of tree cover in cities had pushed this bird into non-urban areas.

Then it was found that sparrows had also gone missing from the urban landscape as well as the countryside. The dwindling population of sparrows, according to scientists, is due to degrading eco-system of urban areas. The sparrows are sensitive to changes in the environment and that is why worst affected by this in the same manner as the snow leopards are affected by climate and environmental changes at higher altitudes. So this way, some scientists even regard sparrows as the snow leopard of the urban plains.

Besides these environmental changes, many studies have revealed that radiation from the cellphone service towers could be the possible reason for the disappearance of these small chirpy birds. As cities saw rampant urbanisation, it is believed that the population of mynahs dropped possibly due to pollution, lack of breeding locations and the receding number of trees. The mynahs might have moved to the outskirts and villages but that needs to be ascertained by scientific studies.

The peacocks are found in good numbers in western Uttar Pradesh but the region does not appear to be safe for them any longer. The culprit in this case is the use of insecticides - the same factor that has pushed the Indian vultures to the brink of extinction. The peacock was declared India's National Bird in 1963 and is considered a revered bird in Hindu mythology.

Reports from western UP say that different kinds of insecticides used in fields to protect the crops are proving to be a major threat for peacocks. Reports say many peacocks have been found dead in western UP, including Etawah, Agra, Mainpuri, and districts bordering Madhya Pradesh. Since there is no hunting activity in these regions, poachers cannot be blamed for these deaths. Local farmers attribute these deaths to use of insecticides in the fields. Use of insecticides in mango orchards had also been cited in the past as the possible reason for peacock deaths in some districts.

Forest officials in the area also concede that peacocks usually feed on the insects and worms in the fields. Since these might already be dead after the use of poisonous insecticides, the peacocks, too, get poisoned and die later. The theory is supported by autopsy of some dead peacocks which revealed that they had died of chemical poisoning.

In the past, use of insecticides and the pain relieving drug diclofenac in cattle had been traced to be the cause of large-scale deaths of vultures in many states, including UP, coupled with the loss of habitat. This has pushed the vultures to the brink of extinction and now special campaigns are being conducted to create a safe habitat for these scavenger birds in Katarniaghat in Bahraich.

The expansion of agriculture and development activities has sharply reduced open space. We have simply pursued our livelihoods. We knew it was inimical to wolves and mountain lions. But we somehow trusted that all the innocent little birds were here to stay. What they actually need to survive, it turns out, is a landscape that is less intensely human.

The result is that most tree-nesting birds are disappearing from the cities due to shrinking tree cover. Besides, when open space is paved, insects and caterpillars, too, disappear, depriving the birds of their food. Birds are an indicator species of the ecological health of an area and in addition to distortion of the ecological balance, birds are an essential part of the aesthetic lifescape of humans.

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